PA-18-648: ABSTRACT - SAGES The goals of this consensus conference are to identify optimal strategies for bile duct injury prevention during cholecystectomy (e.g., removing the gallbladder) and to develop and disseminate evidence-based practice guidelines for safe cholecystectomy. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is one of the most common operations performed worldwide, with approximately one million patients undergoing this procedure annually in the U.S. alone. Injury to the main bile ducts draining the liver is a devastating and potentially life-threatening event. Patients who sustain a bile duct injury require many re-interventions and hospitalizations, have an increased risk of death, suffer a diminished quality of life, and incur healthcare costs greater than $1 billion as a result of the injury. Given the frequency with which cholecystectomy is performed, improving the safety of this operation is a high priority in surgical care. The proposed consensus conference will merge a systematic literature review with leading gallbladder experts in the field of surgery and will include participation from at least 150 additional surgeons from across the US and the world. This project is a collaborative effort between the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), the American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (AHPBA), the International HPB Association (IHPBA), the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), and the European Association of Endoscopic Surgeons (EAES). The output from this conference will result in the first evidence-based recommendations and statements on this topic and we will disseminate strategies and interventions that will enhance patient safety in cholecystectomy. Specifically, the conference results will impact patients who comprise many NIH priority populations, including women, since gallstones occur more frequently in women and elderly; inner-city; low-income; minority; and rural patients who often have more complicated gallbladder disease and are, thereby, at increased risk for complications. The primary target audience will be practicing surgeons and surgical residents in training. In addition to those in attendance, publishing the conference proceedings and recommendations in peer-reviewed journals and on society websites, panels at future meetings, video recording of the conference, and using social media will ensure that the results will be available to other groups impacted by this problem, such as health systems; healthcare plans; and patient safety groups that may help support best practices. We expect the information from this conference will be invaluable to directly inform strategies for surgical training programs, hospitals, and professional surgical associations to create and disseminate interventions that enhance patient safety in cholecystectomy and improve patient outcomes. We are requesting support for this one-day consensus conference, administered by SAGES, that will be held on October 20, 2018. NIH support for the conference is needed to support participation by trainees and junior faculty to attend the conference format. 1